


midas touch

by hoelistic



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - X-Men Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys In Love, Discrimination, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by X-Men United, M/M, Mutilation mention, Parallelism, Slow Burn, injury mention, murder mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28545852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoelistic/pseuds/hoelistic
Summary: But Renjun is still beautiful, he shines brilliant and bold. More than the heart of gold that Yukhei carries. Yukhei thinks Renjun’s the strongest person he’s ever laid eyes on and his heart begins to yearn to give Renjun more and more until love can’t possibly pour out anymore.(or: An X-Men au where Yukhei wants to hold Renjun's hand, but the latter's powers are proven to be both a blessing and a curse.)
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 40
Kudos: 108
Collections: Challenge #4 — Awaken The World





	midas touch

**Author's Note:**

> I've always been an X-Men fan so here we are ^^. I still consider myself a new writer so idk if you can guess me T^T.

Having powers, as it turns out, isn’t the most glamorous thing in the world— despite how comic book heroes have always been revered until a plethora of news coverage about the existence of mutants become the center of global media. While everyone knows that only a small percentage of the world’s population has the X-Gene and that the gene can manifest powers people can’t possibly imagine, nonetheless describe with words, no amount of scientific studies can fully encapsulate the stigma that comes with it.

X-Men.

Their powers incite fear in those who don’t have them. They’re human, but everyone forgets the second part of their name. It implies mortality, the possibility of their hearts being gutted and carved out for love to safely and lightly burn inside of it. It yearns to be protected and cherished like a flame during the height of winter, struggling on its own with so little strength to continue its endeavor.

The world changes. Fewer people are born with the X-Gene.

Some things remain constant. Those born without X-Gene always grow to learn fear and the ugliness that comes with this emotion that’s laced with resentment.

A stigma that is unable to be dismantled; government propaganda always finds a way to scapegoat mutants, even if they are born to be loved and protected according to the social contract. The most vulnerable are left in darkness. Light fails to flicker because they are deemed monsters not worthy of being cradled with the warmth of a village.

Despite everything and all of the names he’s been called for being born a mutant, Yukhei Wong doesn’t fear being a part of X-Men. Growing up, his mother always told Yukhei that his powers can create goodness in the world. Smiles are no longer scorched with bitterness, and that’s the mentality he carries with him.

A heart of gold that no matter how much gloomy gray rain pours, it can’t rust. Nothing can corrupt it. With time, Yukhei’s heart grows stronger and stronger, until nothing can hurt it anymore.

There’s too much love to give, it overpours.

Renjun Huang fears being part of X-Men. Growing up, his mother always told Renjun that he was an aberration that can only hurt others. Worse than Frankenstein himself. For at least his creature was too aware of its monstrous birth and its incapacity of being loved to seek more. Renjun’s never learned how to receive, much less asked for it. And his mentality has never changed.

Renjun’s heart isn’t made out of gold like Yukhei’s is.

It’s a heart of silver.

Silver can rust. Silver isn’t as malleable as gold. Once it’s rusted, no one will attempt to bring it back to its old beauty unless it’s something that’s already dearly beloved. It becomes worthless. With time, Renjun’s heart grows more vulnerable. Scared. Scared of a world where he’s supposed to be loved and learn to love how the foliage of trees turn into a brilliant orange when fall comes and makes way for winter.

Fear takes love away from the mundane. It overpours.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Yukhei Wong is 19 to Renjun Huang’s 18 when they first meet at Kun’s School for Gifted Children.

When he first sees Renjun, Yukhei learns about what it means to fall in love. It’s not quite love at first sight as Romeo and Juliet experienced, but he learns the meaning of immediate infatuation when his eyes land on the younger boy; his love begins bleeding out, the first time Yukhei’s heart of gold threatens to rust.

Yukhei doesn’t know what attracts him to Renjun.

At first, he thinks that perhaps Renjun’s power is electromagnetism with the way he’s pulled into Renjun’s orbit like the moon is attracted to the sun. But Yukhei discovers that it’s YangYang who plays around with electromagnetic fields— at times messing around with his professors during training sessions by making them fall.

Yukhei insists that there’s something about Renjun’s power that makes him want to be in the younger boy’s vicinity at all times.

He extends his hand when Sicheng finally introduces them to each other.

It’s the first time Yukhei faces rejection.

He’s hurt.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Renjun Huang is 18 years to Yukhei Wong’s 19 years when they first meet.

Unlike Yukhei, Renjun doesn’t experience the warmth that comes with love at first sight. Love, at first sight, is something akin to a small little candlelight being turned on when there’s only imminent darkness. Not even stars shine when someone experiences instant infatuation for the first time.

Renjun’s left vulnerable, exposed for the world to see his heart stumble for someone who might never love him in the way you want them to. Renjun keeps telling himself he’s fine with Yukhei giving him whatever affection he decides to give, but Renjun’s never been loved before.

He’s scared that he wants more than what he’s allowed to take.

Renjun refuses to take Yukhei’s hand.

He doesn’t want to hurt Yukhei. He doesn’t want to hurt himself either.

Not anymore.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

The universe decides that Yukhei and Renjun are bound to meet time and time again. Yukhei attributes it to them being part of the same school, because honestly despite both of them being X-Men, he doesn’t see them ever meeting outside of training and missions. All of their training sessions are scheduled for the same time, but “shockingly”, they never actually interact.

Renjun doesn’t seem as confident as Yukhei or the rest of the students here, who are always flaunting their powers. Donghyuck shatters glass with his voice during a fight with Mark and Xiaojun manages to appease them both by threatening to make it rain.

Renjun’s always in the back, never wanting to interact with anyone.

In Yukhei’s mind, he likens Renjun to Pluto.

In orbit. All alone because he’s no longer considered to be a part of the planetary system.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Renjun curses the universe for bringing him and Yukhei together time and time again, no matter how much he doesn’t want it. Renjun’s stricken and he ends up crying whenever he’s alone in the dorms praying that no one ever hears him struggle through the night.

He remembers the time he’s 11, his sweater damp with tears with the realization that he can never touch anyone again. From that day forward, Renjun wishes that his X-Gene gave him the ability to fly instead. Birds are so free. They can go anywhere in the world and everyone loves them; they’re always envious because birds are given the power of flight and even when they’re caged, people love them regardless and declare it their duty to care for them.

Yukhei reminds Renjun of the sun, never fearing where he goes. Always smiling and making jokes that draw people to them.

For the first time, Renjun is envious.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

It’s February when Yukhei first learns that not everyone loves the X-Gene they’re born with.

When the younger kids give everyone chocolate to celebrate the romantic holiday (unironically Mr. Valentine receives the most chocolates out of everybody because of his birthday and because he’s everyone’s first love at some point; even Sicheng says that it’s inevitable to fall in love with Jaehyun), they’re hesitant to gift any to Renjun.

“Why?” Yukhei asks, already munching on the heart-shaped chocolates Chenle and Jisung gave him, they simply shake their heads and say that they would rather just drop them the chocolates in front of Renjun’s dorm room.

“Because we don’t want to risk touching him,” Chenle pipes out and earns a kick from Jisung, whose ears are becoming tinted in crimson red from the confession.

And it makes sense, it all finally makes sense.

Yukhei remembers making it snow during July because one of his summer school classmates told him they’ve never seen snow before. Yukhei loved the way her eyes smiled from seeing her first snow, and the fluttering feeling that came each time someone thanked him for using his ice powers. Happiness was something Yukhei felt that he could create with his bare hands.

Things don’t always apply to everyone, Yukhei realizes. No one clings to Renjun when he tries to make them happy, looking at him with disgust and fear that he will kill them like he killed his father by absorbing their life force.

But Renjun is still beautiful, he shines brilliant and bold. More than the heart of gold that Yukhei carries. Yukhei thinks Renjun’s the strongest person he’s ever laid eyes on and his heart begins to yearn to give Renjun more and more until love can’t possibly pour out anymore.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

It’s February when it’s the first time Renjun sees Yukhei crying.

Renjun, all alone in his cold pristine room, hears knocking on his door and opens it to see Yukhei wearing gloves and sobbing, muttering gibberish that Renjun doesn’t find the heart to comment on. It’s not worth his time, he decides.

He’s already been through this process so many times, and each time he did, Renjun gave out too much of his heart.

There’s so little left, Renjun refuses to give anymore. He’s not made out of gold—even platinum would suffice and make the last piece of his heart valuable. The remaining piece is made out of silver that’s already becoming tinting in green, but Renjun wants to treasure what’s left. It’s him and he should accept that he’s the only one with the capacity to love it.

Instead, Renjun stands there in silence, hoping that Yukhei will leave on his own.

If he gives in, then Yukhei will take that last piece.

After what seems to be an eternity, Yukhei hands Renjun the Valentine’s Day chocolate and leaves.

Renjun, despite all of his willpower, ends up letting Yukhei take a small part with him.

He’s restless the rest of the night.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Yukhei is 20 to Renjun’s 19 when he first realizes he likes the younger.

He doesn’t think it’s fully developed into love yet. It’s too strong a word now. Yukhei thinks it’s something a bit more undeveloped, childish even. Young. As young as the first flower to bloom when winter finally takes its halt and allows for the snow to melt and the earth to warm up and transition to spring.

He knows this because all he wants to do is hold Renjun’s hand once without wearing these gloves, to feel flesh on flesh; to have Renjun’s warmth melt everything about him away. Yukhei finds himself envious of Ten, whose regenerative powers allow him to help Renjun up when he falls during missions.

Yukhei’s greedy and he knows that he shouldn’t feel bitter about someone who’s always been kind to Renjun and the only person who Renjun’s been able to touch without fear since he turned 11 and his X-Gene started acting up.

He keeps silent.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Renjun is 19 to Yukhei's 20 when he wishes that Yukhei doesn’t keep silent.

He likes Yukhei. More than he should be allowed to, but with each breaking wave that crashes into what’s left of him, Renjun ends up giving more and more.

He knows this because he wants to hold Yukhei’s hand just as much as Yukhei wants to hold his. He knows that Yukhei wants to hold his hands. Renjun’s seen the way hurt flashes in Yukhei’s eyes whenever Ten holds onto Renjun during training sessions and hi-five him when Renjun does a good job. None of that is anything Yukhei can do for Renjun. The most Yukhei has ever been able to do for Renjun, is bring winter for him and build a snowman together.

But the time where Renjun sees Yukhei most hurt is the time where they come back from fighting against a faction of mutant supremacists. Renjun had stolen the life force of one of their leaders to stop him from burning down half the city, but not without sustaining any injuries as well. The mutant had blasted Renjun with fire and fortunately, Renjun only suffered from a slight burn on his left arm. Nothing too serious and could easily heal with proper care.

Renjun knows that this burn meant more to Yukhei than it did to him.

The one who carries Renjun back home is Ten, a reminder that no matter how much they want, Yukhei can’t touch Renjun. Even with gloves on, Yukhei is unable to rub Renjun’s hands and tell him things are going to be okay in fear that Renjun’s body might accidentally absorb life force to heal the latter’s wounds.

Renjun finds himself wishing he didn’t keep silent too.

Silence is his worst enemy.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Yukhei has always been someone with a flair for the dramatic, and it’s intimidating at times—even If he’s learned to adore Renjun in silence. It’s his love language, showing physical affection. Everyone who he loves and loves deeply and immensely is given hugs and kisses because Yukhei wants to hold onto the limited time he’s given with them.

That’s why he’s running, heart beating faster to make time move forward so that he can find Renjun right away.

It takes him so many tries and Ten’s help, but Yukhei finally figures it out.

He figures out how to hold Renjun’s hand, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes at a time; yet, somehow, it seems like forever to him. He will take whatever time will give him if it means being closer to Renjun. Even if it’s just one second. It’s enough. It is enough for Yukhei.

He almost trips over his shoelace, but it doesn’t stop Yukhei from running as fast to the person he considers his most important person in the world. Stumbles and a couple of falls later, Yukhei finds his way to Renjun’s room with the latter opening the door with eyes wide open.

“Do you mind being cold for a bit?” Yukhei manages to stammer out, catching his breath.

A look of confusion appears on Renjun’s face, but he nods his head anyway.

“I promise this is going to work.”

Yukhei begins covering his hand with one thin layer of frost, gradually building it up and up with more and more layers until there's a glove made out of ice. Afterward, Yukhei manages to smile at Renjun, telling the younger boy to take his hand.

It’s not immediate. It’s a slow process, but Renjun finally gives in. But as much as he trusts Yukhei, he closes his eyes. Renjun doesn’t want to see Yukhei getting hurt. That’s something he’s always feared from their first meeting, the possibility of injuring someone he holds dear again.

Renjun pauses, but it’s not abrupt. Like Renjun always is, the pause is calculative, but never in a way that wishes to harm anyone. The pauses are always full of wishes and daydreams Renjun never wished to share, but at the same time, desired that they could easily unravel. 

Silence breaks, the humming of the box fan in Renjun’s softening the noise of continuing build of ice on Yukhei’s hand. It keeps piling and piling up until Renjun finally opens his eyes. And then he says, tears breaking out and voice shaking, “Why are your hands so cold? You should wear a jacket, you idiot.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━

For the first time, Renjun understands why Yukhei could never hate the X-Gene he was born with. He’s always wondered if Yukhei was a fool because his heart never developed fear. Fear that a genetic mutation born out of luck could make him a heinous creature incapable of being loved by its creator. Frankenstein should have been the monster people ran away from, not his lonely creation that all he ever wanted was to be loved.

But this fear has finally exhausted out of Renjun’s heart.

He can laugh breathlessly now.

There’s nothing Renjun needs to fear anymore.

Things are going to be okay. For now, that’s all he needs to know.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos if you liked this (´｡• ᵕ •｡`).
> 
> Find me here:  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/_ourloveispink)  
> [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/hoelistic98)


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